The Secret Nights of Quinn Fabray
by insaneantics21
Summary: Quinn has a secret. Oneshot.


**Author's Note:** Done as a present for itsamaleduck Tumblr because she's awesome and totally brightened up my day one day when it was going horribly wrong.

* * *

Rachel considered the day she and Quinn moved into their own Los Angeles apartment one of the best days of her life. Both fresh out of UCLA, Quinn had already landed a job assisting a set designer for a hit television show and Rachel was auditioning and sending out demo tapes while giving voice lessons in her spare time. To save money they'd shared a dorm room for all four years of college and they'd found the perfect apartment a few weeks before graduation.

Rachel's dads helped them move in and the pair got ribbed for only having one bed to move in, Rachel giggled and Quinn blushed. The second bedroom had just enough space for their desks and Rachel's clothes that couldn't fit into their bedroom closet were stored in the spare room. She spent all day picking and choosing which outfits went where while Quinn and her dads moved in the heavy stuff.

The brunette was sitting on the spare bedroom floor sorting through her skirts when Quinn walked in with a very large box that Rachel didn't remember seeing in their dorm room. The blonde looked positively giddy to be holding it.

"Where's that from?" Rachel inquired.

Quinn's excited expression dropped from her face and her eyes went wide. She tightened her grip on the box.

"Your dads brought it from my things that were at your house."

"Oh. What's in it?"

Rachel furrowed her eyebrows when Quinn tucked her lower lip between her teeth and shrugged. The brunette stood and crossed the floor to her girlfriend. She reached out to touch the box, Quinn shrugged away from her.

"Don't worry about it," the blonde mumbled, turning bright red.

"Quinn?" Rachel's dad poked his head in the door. "Where did you want us to put your other TV?"

"In here," the blonde said.

"Quinn, we already have a television."

"Well I had one in storage."

"Why not put it in the bedroom?" Rachel felt the devilish grin spread across her face.

"There's no room. We'll just…we'll put it in here."

"We can get a mount for it and put it on the wall."

"We can't put holes in the wall."

Rachel sighed, exasperated. It was clear that Quinn wasn't going to let her win this one so she shrugged. Her dad brought in the small flat-screen television and Quinn directed him to put it on her desk next to her laptop. The blonde was still holding the box she'd brought in earlier and eyeing Rachel suspiciously.

"What's in the box, Quinn?"

"Nothing, I told you."

Quinn finally let go of the box, Rachel watched her slide it under her desk and hover over it protectively.

"You know I'll figure it out eventually."

"It's just some things from home, okay? Don't worry about it."

Rachel nodded and pecked Quinn's cheek. The blonde was visibly upset at the grilling and so Rachel left it alone. She would respect Quinn's privacy because that's what good girlfriends did and surely it wasn't anything incriminating.

The weeks went by and Rachel was able to land a few small roles on some TV shows. Quinn kept putting her name in for a guest spot on the show she was working on and things were generally great. Rachel did notice, however, that Quinn looked increasingly tired. Her hours were long, sure, but Rachel wondered if maybe the blonde hadn't been sleeping well since she was always tired in the morning. She politely suggested some non-caffeinated herbal teas before they went to bed and even melatonin pills. Quinn shook her head and smiled and stated she was simply working really hard. Rachel also noticed they were going through popcorn and Mountain Dew rather quickly.

How she came upon it was by accident, really. Rachel was going through the closet in the spare bedroom looking for shoes of Quinn's to borrow. She knew the blonde had gold flats somewhere. She looked through both closets and under their bed. She tore open a box in the closet and furrowed her eyebrows. She looked at the outside of the box and recognized it as the unfamiliar box Quinn had brought in the day they moved.

What it contained, though, was interesting. She pulled out what she assumed was a video game cartridge and looked over it. The label had been worn off but in black marker in Quinn's handwriting was written "Super Mario/Duck Hunt". Rachel looked through the rest of the cartridges and almost couldn't believe what she was seeing. Super Mario Brothers 2, Super Mario Brothers 3, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Tetris, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and a few others. Underneath the plethora of gray cartridges was a very ancient looking game console with two controllers and a plastic gun.

"Rachel!"

Rachel snapped her head up at the sound of Quinn's voice. The blonde's face was a mixture of horrified and furious, as though Rachel had just discovered her deepest, darkest secret. Hell, Rachel _had_ just discovered her deepest, darkest secret.

"It's…they're Puck's!"

Rachel blinked. "Puck's?"

"I'm…holding onto them. For him."

"Quinn, Noah lives in Ohio. We live in California. Do I need to list the reasons why your explanation is flawed?"

"I never said you could go through that box."

Rachel picked up what looked to be a strategy guide for Super Mario Brothers 3.

"You hate video games. You complained that Puck never shut up about them."

"They're not mine!"

Rachel pulled a post-it out of the book. "This is _your_ handwriting! On the stationary that I got you two weeks ago- Oh my God! That's why you've been so tired? You've been engaging in video game play in the middle of the night!"

Quinn crossed her arms over her chest and stared up at the ceiling. "Maybe," the blonde mumbled.

"What is so horrible about telling me this, Quinn?"

"Because," the blonde sighed. "I…thought you might think I was…a dork."

"Well of course I think you're a dork but that isn't a negative attribute. Being a cover hog is a negative attribute but this is a little cute…despite its strangeness."

"Strange?"

"In a good way, of course."

Quinn marched across the floor and yanked the strategy guide and the post-it out of Rachel's hands. She flipped through and put the post-it back in its correct place and flipped through the rest of the book, avoiding Rachel's gaze. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, Rachel sat patiently and waited for the blonde to find her voice again. Quinn sighed and dropped to the floor in front of Rachel.

"It's Puck's fault," she finally managed to say. "He wouldn't shut up about the games and one night I was bored and so I…I thought 'how hard can it be?' and so I started playing…and I couldn't stop. Duck Hunt got me through my mood swings because I got to shoot at things. It was…cathartic. Super Mario Brothers was infuriating because I'd get to the end and try to make a jump for the flag but I'd miss so…so I had to keep trying, you know? I couldn't just quit."

Rachel nodded and listened closely, she felt the smile plague her face but she willed herself to keep her composure.

"So…Puck didn't want his old console anymore and I took it when I moved in with you. I had it hooked up in the basement…and when we moved for college I couldn't really bring it with me. I've…I guess I've been making up for lost time."

"Why couldn't you just tell me about this, baby? I don't get it." Rachel reached out and put her hand on Quinn's knee and scooted a little closer to her girlfriend.

"Because…I…I didn't…you're…I don't know," the blonde finally mumbled.

"Well," Rachel said with a smile, "I can assure you that I will support your addiction to ancient video games as long as you start getting some sleep."

"They're not ancient! They're vintage!"

"They're older than we are. I think my dads talked about having one in college."

"Vintage! Atari is ancient."

"A-what?" Rachel furrowed her eyebrows.

Quinn gasped. "Atari! Oh my gosh, Rachel! Pong?"

"Like…beer pong?"

"No! Space Invaders? Asteroid?"

Rachel was thoroughly confused, Quinn seemed to be speaking in tongues. She shrugged and Quinn groaned.

"Never mind," she sighed. "I guess at least now I don't have to worry about putting everything back in the box."

Rachel shrugged again. "Perhaps I could play with you sometime?" she asked cautiously. "It would give us another common interest and those are crucial for sustaining a relationshi-"

Rachel was cut off by Quinn's lips on hers and the blonde pushing her back to the floor and running her hands up her shirt.

The next evening the brunette made sure a large bowl of popcorn was within reach as well as several cans of Mountain Dew as she settled into her desk chair next to Quinn who was staring at the small TV screen in their spare bedroom. Quinn went through the title screens of Super Mario Brothers (the blonde had insisted they'd start with the original and work their way up) and she chewed her lip and she hit the down arrow and selected 2 PLAYERS.

Quinn went first, Rachel glanced back and forth between the screen and her girlfriend. The blonde had a look of determination on her face like none Rachel had never seen as she jumped up on blocks and onto turtles and mushrooms and over gaps. The brunette tried desperately to keep up but before she knew it, Quinn had jumped and hit the flag pole she'd mentioned the day before and she threw her hands up in celebration.

"New record," she said with a grin.

"Of what?" Rachel blinked.

"Time. Go!"

Quinn pointed at the screen and Rachel jumped a little. She stared at the little man in green and then back to the controller in her hands. Quinn sighed and reached over and pushed one of the center black buttons.

"The arrows move you," the blonde said, "left, right, or duck. A is jump, B is for when you have fire power, you use it to shoot fireballs."

"What if I want to jump and shoot a fireball at the same time?"

Quinn blinked. "Just…go with the basics for now. Jump and hit your head on the question marks, you'll get coins or mushrooms or fire power."

Rachel nodded and held the controller firmly in her hands. Quinn hit that little black button again and Rachel pressed her thumb to the right arrow. She hit a mushroom and the little man in green (Quinn had said they had names but Rachel had already forgotten them) fell off the screen.

"I thought the mushrooms were good," the brunette said, eyebrows furrowed.

Quinn shook her head. "Not those, only the ones that come out of bricks. The others you want to jump on top of. Watch."

Quinn's character, the man in red, went through a tunnel and dropped down into a world of blue bricks, something like a cave. She jumped on top of two blue mushrooms and Rachel watched, trying desperately to gain interest. Her eyes glanced to Quinn's face and the brunette almost giggled. The blonde's eyes were fixated on the TV, just as Rachel expected them to be, but her tongue was peeking out of the corner of her mouth just a little. By the time Rachel turned back to the screen, Quinn was in a room with three pipes with numbers above them.

"Warp tunnels," Quinn said. "I can go right to level four."

"That's cheating!"

"No it isn't! Getting out the Game Genie and punching in codes to get infinite lives is cheating. This is not cheating."

"The game what?"

"Never mind." Quinn jumped up on the tube with the number 4 above it and the screen went dark.

Rachel saw her man in green come up on the screen again and she was back where she started. She moved forward carefully and checked that her jump button was working properly before she took the leap and landed on top of the brown mushroom.

"Okay, jump up and hit the question mark," Quinn instructed.

Rachel did as she was told and a coin came up. She repeated the process with the second question mark and a mushroom came out.

"That's a good mushroom, you want that."

Rachel held still and when the mushroom hit her, her man in green doubled in size. Quinn walked her through the rest of the level, mumbling something about a secret coin cave when Rachel passed by one of the green tubes. The brunette just shrugged and continued following her girlfriend's instructions. She reached a large staircase and she heard Quinn's audible gasp.

"Okay, go up to the top and stop," the blonde said.

The brunette did and she waited.

"Just…move backwards a little. There. Now hold down B and move forward and push A when you hit the edge."

Rachel blinked.

"Do you want me to do it? You're running out of time."

"No," Rachel shrugged away from Quinn's outstretched hand. "I'll do it."

Rachel took a deep breath and punched the combination of buttons Quinn had told her to push. She ended up jumping off the tall staircase and hitting the ground just in front of the flagpole. Quinn groaned and buried her head in her hands.

"What? What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing," Quinn mumbled. "Just jump at the pole."

Rachel did as she was told and the little man in green latched onto it and slid down then jogged into the little castle.

They continued this way for a while, Quinn beat the levels and cheered at her record times. Rachel used up the rest of her lives on world 1-2 because she couldn't seem to get around the third turtle and when she finally did she kept falling off the moving platforms at the very end. She was frustrated because it was very rare that Rachel Berry found something she wasn't good at right away.

"It takes hand-eye coordination, babe," Quinn said as she sailed through another level unscathed. "You have to -damn it I hate that guy- you have to have good reaction time." Rachel gasped when Quinn swore a few more times at the little man in a cloud throwing balls down at her that turned into apparently indestructible things that kind of looked like turtles but were pointy. "It also takes practice. You have to know what's -you little bastard, go away!- coming."

"Quinn, I don't think I've ever heard you swear outside of the bedroom."

"Puck showed me how to kill the guy once but I forgot. I need to look it up."

"Right."

Quinn finished the level and grabbed her can of Mountain Dew and chugged it down. Rachel looked on, a little slack jawed as Quinn's focus went right back to the TV. When the blonde finished yet another level, Rachel tried to show her enthusiasm…but she didn't really get it.

"Do you want me to restart?" Quinn asked, pushing the button that made the game pause. "We'll start from the beginning again, I'll get you through…"

"It's fine," Rachel said with a smile. "I apparently lack the hand-eye coordination required to execute feats of killing mushrooms and turtles and walking on moving platforms. I'm going to go to the bathroom, would you like me to get you anything while I'm up?"

Quinn blinked a few times and gave a half-hearted smile. Rachel knew she could see behind her fake-enthusiastic smile and the brunette quickly got up and went to the bathroom. She washed her face and scrubbed the buttery residue from the popcorn off of her fingertips and spritzed herself a few times with her Sweet Pea body spray before she went back to the spare bedroom.

Rachel tilted her head at the sight of Quinn packing away the game console back in its box.

"Lose all your lives?" the brunette inquired.

"I thought of a better use for my hands," Quinn said with a shrug. She stood and wrapped her arms around Rachel's waist and pulled her in.

"You can play, I don't mind. I just have no skill at…which one was that?"

"Super Mario Brothers."

"Right, the little men in overalls. Why did you put it away?"

"I…If you didn't like it, I didn't…I mean, I don't want to play and you think I'm ditching you."

"Well I would prefer if you didn't play in the middle of the night, it disrupts your sleep and sleep is an essential part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Other than that, feel free to play whenever you like."

"I don't want to when you're home, I don't want you feeling left out or anything. Like I said, I don't want to ditch you."

"The obvious solution to that is for you to play when I'm not home then or perhaps we could try another game. I'm rather skilled at Tetris on the computer, you know? My dads and I used to have tournaments."

Quinn grinned. "I could kick your ass in Tetris."

"Is that a challenge, Fabray?"

The blonde squeaked and grabbed the console out of the box and re-hooked it up in record time. She shoved the Tetris cartridge in and tossed Rachel a controller. The brunette grinned down at her girlfriend and took her place in her desk chair as she waited for the console to boot up. Quinn was practically bouncing in her seat and Rachel just sighed and reached over to rub the blonde's arm.

"I love you," Rachel sighed. "Dorkiness and all."

Quinn gripped onto Rachel's hand and brought it to her lips and kissed the back of it. "I love you, too. And you're going down."

Rachel yanked her hand back and focused on the screen. Quinn might've been skilled at running around as a man in red overalls but Rachel was bound and determined that no one ever beat her at Tetris. It was going to be a long, long night.


End file.
